Two children narrowly escaped death when a grenade they were playing with exploded last Sunday in Aweil North County, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State, police said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Lt. Anei Nyang, the inspector of police in Aweil North County said, “Yes, the explosion of the grenade happened because there was a small boy of 10 years called Anei Akol Dau who took the grenade from the forest and brought it to their house. They started playing with it with his one-year-old sister called Alia Akol Dau and the grenade exploded.”
“This happened in War-chuei village in Malual West Payam, Aweil North County on Sunday. The child himself came with the report saying that he was the one who picked the bomb from the forest and played with It,’’ Lt. Anei added.
According to the police mouthpiece, another grenade was recovered by security agents last month. He blamed former combatants for carelessly misplacing or disposing of grenades, warning them to take such items to a nearby military base.
“Last month a grenade was found by some children between the Makem area and Nyamlel in a forest but it didn’t injure anybody because it was reported and we immediately took action and picked it up,” Lt. Anei said. “The reason for the grenade increase is that ex-combatants who want to quit the military or want to visit someplace hide them in the forest and go away.”
Joseph Atem, the county health director of Aweil North County said the children sustained minor injuries in the explosion and are currently recovering from their injuries.
“One of the children got injured on the thigh and the face. The other child got injured on the face. However, they were all fine when I called yesterday to check on them," Atem said.